


The Tenth Day of Christmas

by RinRin



Series: The Twelve Days of Christmas: MadaTobi style [10]
Category: A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, Naruto
Genre: Inspired by A Christmas Carol, M/M, Minato is only called Yondaime, Pre-Relationship, Time Travel, ocs are present and a little important
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 13:32:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8981986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinRin/pseuds/RinRin
Summary: On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my muse gave to me,  A Christmas Carol AU:
Or, Madara learns something about the past, the present, and the future





	

**Author's Note:**

> No references this time, this was a monster of an AU and any references would have felt forced.
> 
> This is all pre-relationship, but there would definitely have been a relationship in the future of this AU.

Madara gave an aggravated huff as he went to bed.  Everyone was making a big deal out of tomorrow being Christmas, especially Hashirama.

Even Hikaku wanted him to ‘get in the spirit’ and ‘just forgive Tobirama already’ as if the Senju hadn’t killed his brother in that final battle.

He suddenly heard a rattling.

He looked around and saw nothing.  Madara frowned, but continued on getting ready to go to bed.

He heard the rattling again.

“Who’s there?” he demanded.

“Is that anyway to greet your father?” a voice asked from behind him.  Madara whirled around to see his father standing there, covered in chains.

“What the-” Madara activated his Sharingan, try to dispel what was obviously a genjutsu.  Nothing happened.

“I’m not a genjutsu.  You, boy, are not on a good track and if you continue on it, you’ll end up like me,” Tajima rattled his chains at Madara.

“Stop that,” Madara snapped, “What even are those?”

“The Chains of my Failings.  Everything that I’ve done that has lead to more suffering in this world.   _ Your’s _ are going to be worse if you don’t  _ shape up _ ,” Tajima said.  After a pause he rattled his chains at Madara.

“Sto-” Madara cut himself off with a growl, “ _ How  _ are my so-called chains, if you’re to be believed, going to be worse?  I’m one of the Founders of Konoha!”

“You also are the biggest source of conflict within it.  Literally every other Uchiha and Senju have gotten over their hatred.  You cannot let go of your hatred.  Senju Tobirama named that the Curse of Hatred and he was  _ damn  _ right,” Tajima snorted, “But the worst of it is that you’ve turned your back on a friend and the peace and happiness that he offered you.”

Madara turned away from him, scoffing, “I never listened to you in life, why would I listen to you know?”

“You won’t,” Tajima’s answer was prompt, “But I’m not the one that’s going to convince you.  I’m just here to warn you and tell you that tonight you will be visited by three spirits.  Out of any love that you held for me, or your mother and brothers,  _ please _ listen to them.”

“What is  _ tha- _ ” Madara turned back to face him, but Tajima was gone.

“I must be more tired than I thought,” he muttered, getting into bed.

 

When midnight hit, Madara suddenly awoke.  For a moment he wasn’t sure what woke him, but then he saw Izuna sitting at the end of his bed, reading over a scroll.

“You know, Tobirama has some of the most elegant writing I’ve ever seen,” Izuna said casually, “He’s also got quite a way of saying ‘You’re a fucking idiot’ without coming out and saying it.”

“Izuna! You- You’re alive!” Madara gasped.

“Well, not exactly.  The Spirit of Christmas Past really.  I just find a significant person from your past and join with them for the visit with you,” the spirit explained, “Now, we’ve got a lot to do and not very much time to do it, so let’s get going.”

Izuna pulled him up.

“But, where are we going?”

“Not just where, when,” was the answer given before the room dissolved into nothingness before their surroundings resolidified around them.

Izuna looked around with raised eyebrows, as if taking in the room for the first time.

“This, this is the old Uchiha compound.  Where we grew up,” Madara said, amazement in his voice.

“Yes, and do you know what happened here?” Izuna asked.

“I- we spent time with our family.  Which I no longer have,” Madara’s voice grew hard.

“That’s not it at all, watch,” Izuna told him.

Five boys tumbled into the room, closely followed by a tall woman.  She ushered them to sit in a circle and handed each of them a single present.

“Alright, now, why don’t we go around and each person will say what they are planning to do in the future before they unwrap their present?” she didn’t so much as ask and tell them.

“Yes Okaa-san!” the boys said in harmony.

“It’s Okaa-san, and Shouhei, and Nagisa, and Ryoma, and you.  We were all so happy back then,” Madara said wistfully.

They watched as the boys each said what they wanted to do, each something like ‘master this move/jutsu’ or something just as mundane.

“And you Mada-kun? What do you want to do in the future?” Okaa-san asked with a smile.

“I want to make peace with the whole world so nobody is fighting anymore!” Mada-kun declared, his face determined.

“Really?” a new voice asked as Tajima walked into the room, “And what will you do about those that hurt us?”

“...I’ll, I’ll look to see  _ why _ they hurt us and then try to forgive them so long as they don’t try again!” Mada-kun said determined, Madara mouthing the words as he did so.

“Listen well boy, we can never forgive our enemies because they will  _ never _ stop trying to crush us under their feet and we are so much  _ better _ than they are,” Tajima told the young child.

“Why are you showing me this?” Madara demanded of Izuna.

“Because there was a time that you cared about Christmas, and that you believed in peace,” Izuna said, “There is one more place that we have to go.”

With that Izuna grabbed Madara and suddenly they were in a different room, this one done in a far more earthy style than the Uchiha compound.  There were four boys sitting with a tall and pale woman.

“But Mama, why can’t people just stick to the promises that they make?” one, who was nigh the spitting image of the woman, asked with a frown.

“Well, Tobi-kun, people don’t always agree with what they say, and sometimes they change their minds,” she said.

Madara stared at the group.

“Why did you bring me to see the Senju’s Christmas?” he asked, but Izuna offered no answer this time.

“I think that we just have to keep trying to make friends, and then no one will fight!” the child Hashirama declared.

“Even with the Uchiha?” the two-toned one asked wide-eyed.

“Yeah!” Hashirama said with a grin.

“Hashi! Don’t let your father hear you say that!” the woman shushed him.

“Mama, will you tell me more about the other Clans?” Tobi-kun asked.

“I don’t want to see this,” Madara whispered harshly, “Take me back! I don’t want to see this!”

Madara was back in his bed.  He sat up and frantically scanned the room, but there was no sign of Izuna.

“I must have dreamed it,” he muttered, lying back down.

He sat back up as he heard chuckling.

“Hashirama? What are you doing here?” he demanded, seeing the Hokage in a large, ridiculous coat sitting at a table that hadn’t been there moments before, eating his fill off of it.

“Ah, Izuna explained it, remember? I am the Spirit of Christmas Present, I simply am borrowing your friend’s form.  After all, he is the one closest to you these days, is he not?” Spirit!Hashirama grinned at him, “Let’s go, we’ve places to be!”

“Oh, no, I am not,” they were outside of the Senju Main House.

“I am  _ not _ doing this,” Madara protested.

“Are you afraid of what you might see?” Spirit!Hashirama asked.

“No!” Madara protested.

“Then let us see what we shall see.”

They entered the house.  The Senju’s were all sitting together.

“Did you invite Madara?” Tobirama asked his gaze intense.

“He didn’t want to come,” Hashirama responded, “and it’s not like I could force him.”

“Why would we even want him here anyway?” Touka asked, “All he ever seems to do is complain and act as if he’s the injured party.”

“He still shouldn’t be alone on Christmas,” Hashirama pouted.

“He does have his own Clan, surely some of them invited him,” Mito pointed out.

Tobirama leaned back from the group and closed his eyes.

Together Spirit!Hashirama and Madara watched as the Senju’s played games and otherwise enjoyed their Christmas.  When Tobirama stood up, Madara frowned.

“What’s he doing?” he muttered.  Spirit!Hashirama said nothing.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have another engagement that I must attend to,” Tobirama said, nodding his head at his family.

“One day,” Hashirama grinned at him, “you’ll have to tell me where it is you go.”

“Perhaps one day you will be content with just knowing I go to a friend’s,” Tobirama shot back, putting on a coat.

Hashirama pouted as Touka and Mito laughed.

Madara and Spirit!Hashirama followed Tobirama.

Madara frowned as Tobirama entered the graveyard near the Uchiha district.

“What is he doing  _ here _ ?” he muttered.

Tobirama knelt down in front of a marker adorned with a single name and lit a stick of incense.  Tobirama began to speak lowly to the marker, his voice not even carrying over to Madara and Spirit!Hashirama.

After a moment, the sound of someone walking up behind them came and Tobirama’s voice trailed off.

“Have you said all that you wish to say then?” Hikaku asked.

“I only have the same that I always do left,” Tobirama replied over his shoulder.

“Alright,” Hikaku answered, his voice melancholy.

“I still do not understand why you dodged the way you did that day.  Every other time that you dodged, it would have resulted in you  _ living _ , but the one time that you changed… I miss you Izuna.  I’ve not met another whose mind is so like mine, and still I doubt that I ever will,” Tobirama spoke to the marker, and Madara’s eyes widened.  He had never know that his little brother had spoken to Tobirama off of the battlefield where they had exchanged taunts.

“...Izuna you ass, I never wanted to try to keep your brother from falling into grief, to be Clan Head in all but name, but for you I’ve been doing just that,” Hikaku said softly as Tobirama’s head was bowed, “Also, taking care of this one is a pain.”

“I suppose that means I don’t have to give you anything?” Tobirama said as he stood up, “I’m sure I could find someone else to give your gift to.”

Hikaku huffed at him, but smiled.

“Come on, Aiko is waiting for us,” he turned from the grave.

“Will Madara be joining us this year?” Tobirama asked, following him.

“No.  He wants no part in Christmas, not with anyone.  I was not the only Uchiha to ask him, and yet he turned all of us down,” Hikaku answered.

“I’m worried.  From the tales I’ve heard from my own Clan, you, Izuna, and what I have seen for myself, he is letting his anger and grief control his every thought and action.  It’s not healthy,” Tobirama said with a frown.

“I am  _ not! _ I am perfectly healthy!  I can perform my duties diligently and without fail!” Madara snapped, unheard, in outrage.

“I know, I am too.  But there really isn’t anything we can do, he needs to bring himself out of it on his own, or else he’ll keep falling back to that time and again,” Hikaku answered, causing Madara to stop in his tracks.

“Take me home, enough is enough,” Madara said, not looking at Spirit!Hashirama.

Madara awoke in his bed.  This time he didn’t even bother to look around the room and just turned over, burrowing himself in his blankets.  He didn’t care  _ who _ the next spirit looked like, he wasn’t going to go with them.  There was no one that he wanted to see unless they took him back to when his family was still alive.

A hand reached under his blanket and grabbed him pulling him out.  Madara sputtered in outrage, but grew silent when he saw the person.

The man was tall and blond with bright blue eyes and was dressed in a white duster with red flames on the bottom.

“I don’t know you,” Madara said, “The other’s were disguised as people I know, but I don’t know you.”

“Because I am one who care for  _ peace _ and Konoha in the future.  I was chosen because you are my enemy,” the man said, his face set in a frown.  He turned from Madara and started to walk away, causing the room around them to melt and Madara to hurry after him.  On his back was the kanji for Yondaime Hokage.  Madara’s blood ran cold.

_ Could I really get so bad that this future Hokage sees me as an enemy? _ he wondered.

Their surroundings solidified into decrepit buildings, overgrown with vegetation.

“Where, where  _ are  _ we?” Madara asked frowning.  He felt like he  _ knew  _ this place.

“Why don’t you find out?” the Yondaime suggested instead of answering.

Madara looked around, taking it all in, but the disrepair was so great that he could not place where he was.  Then he saw the mountain, and the faces carved into it, Hashirama, Tobirama, someone that looked not unlike Sasuke Sarutobi, the Yondaime, and a face that was definitely a Senju, but he didn’t recognize her beyond that.

“This, this is Konoha,” he said, astonished.  His eyes darted back over their surroundings and this time he saw what the faded shape on a wall that was beginning to crumble was, “We’re in the Uchiha district!  But what happened?  Where is everyone?”

“The last three Uchiha have abandoned Konoha.  The rest were massacred by the elder two, because of  _ you _ ,” the Yondaime replied, his voice hard.

“How could I cause this?” Madara asked bewildered.  Yondaime said nothing this time, just turned and began to walk away.

Madara hurried to follow him.  Soon they came across a large feast happening in the middle of the village at the base of the Hokage tower.

“Mama, I get that Godaime-sama wanted to share Christmas with everyone, but I  _ still _ don’t get everything else!  Why do we get logs, knitted blankets, and drink  _ this  _ cider?” a child asked.

“Well, Yusuke, back when Konoha began the Shodaime would grow a giant tree and then divide it among everyone as something to keep burning through the night.  The blankets were a gift given every year by the Sandaime,” the mother told them, “Unfortunately the Yondaime died before setting a tradition for us.”

“What about the cider? It’s different than the other one’s we get,” Yusuke asked.

“Ah, who knows.  It may have predated Konoha.  I just know that Old Torifu was the only one to make it for the longest time.  He only recently chose someone to teach it to,” the mother shrugged.

“No! That, that  _ has _ to be from Tobirama!  That man has a deep love of cider!  Yondaime, why would they not just say that it was Tobirama’s?” Madara demanded to know.

Yondaime said nothing, just turned away from the scene.  Madara went ashen and hurried after him.

_ What will I do that so completely makes Tobirama a person no one speaks of? _

At the edge of Konoha, Yondaime suddenly  _ moved _ and Madara was dragged after him as if there was a hook in his gut.

When they came to a stop, Madara was clasping his hand over his mouth.  Yondaime didn’t even glance at him, but continued into a cave.

Madara dragged himself after the man, trying to keep his dinner down.

Upon coming into a large cavern, Madara was horrified to see himself connected, encased really, to some bizarre statue.  An Uchiha was leaning against the side of the cave, not looking at the old Madara.

“What’s going on here?” Madara asked the Yondaime.

“You’ve corrupted him and the two of you are planning on destroying the world,” for the first time the Yondaime’s voice was sad.

Madara looked at the Yondaime and realized that he was looking at the younger Uchiha with pain in his eyes, pain and a certain fondness.  Madara had seen that fondness in Tobirama’s eyes even if he ignored it whenever Tobirama looked at his students.

“I understand,” Madara whispered, “please just take me  _ home _ .”

“I do not believe that you truly do,” the blond murmured, watching as the old Madara looked up and seemed to  _ see  _ them.  He bared his teeth at them in laughter.

“I won’t be you,” Madara said to him.

“You will  _ always _ become me, and  _ it’s all Tobirama’s fault _ ,” the old Madara hissed.

“He mourns Izuna.  That is all I need to know that if he could have changed things he would have,” Madara raised his head, setting his jaw and  _ glared _ at the pathetic creature that he could have become, “I’m going to forgive him and make sure that this  _ never _ happens!”

The cave melted away as the Yondaime gave a savage grin.

 

Madara woke up.  The sun was shining through his window.  Madara jumped up and rushed to get dressed.

He left the house and glanced around before heading towards Hikaku and Aiko’s home.

He knocked on the door and Kagami was the one that answered.

“Kagami-kun, would it be acceptable if I joined your family today?” he asked the young boy.

“...Um, yes Madara-sama,” the boy looked up at him wide-eyed.

“You don’t have to call me that,” Madara said awkwardly.

Behind Kagami, Aiko came out of the kitchen and stared at him in surprise.

“Aiko-chan, I hope I’m not intruding…” Madara looked at her.  He hadn’t actually spoken to her for years, since Izuna died really, but she still had a presence like a panther lounging in a tree.

“Of course not Madara-kun, we just didn’t think you wanted to join us.  Hikaku did invite… a friend, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind cutting their visit short,” she said, ushering him in.

“Please, I wouldn’t want to inconvenience anyone.  Don’t send away Hikaku’s friend.”

The three of them went into the kitchen and sat down with tea and cookies.  After an awkward moment they began to talk.

By the time that Hikaku and Tobirama entered the house, they were laughing together.   The laughter died and the family of three looked between Madara and Tobirama nervously.

“Tobirama,” Madara said standing up, “thank you for being a better friend to those in my Clan than I have been a Head to them.”

Tobirama stared at the bowed figure in front of him.

“It was nothing! I just wish that our Clans could have found peace earlier,” Tobirama said with a cough.

Madara straightened and gave Tobirama a small smile.  Deep inside of him, he decided that he couldn’t wait to see how the future would change from what he had seen.  One thing he knew, if Yusuke asked his mother why they did what they did, she would name Tobirama as the cause behind the cider.


End file.
